Newspaper Wall 1993

on the slide-projection project of museum in progress in cooperation with the acedemy of applied art, the museum of applied art and the curator from the federal ministry of education and art, dr. robert fleck; curatorship and organisation: judith fischer.

general:

a newspaper wall will again be projected onto an outside wall of the academy of applied art each night in 1993. the concept behind this large-scale slide project is fundamentally different to that of last year: the fifteen part slide series which is appearing for one year on a wall of the academy of applied art, vienna, beginning with a programme change each month is the result of cooperation between museum in progress, the academy of applied art and the museum of applied art.

the academy and museum use the slides at their disposal for announcements of their own activities or information issued on their own behalf.
the structure has been developed by museum in progress and curator, judith fischer: judith fischer (who is responsible for the weekly gallery diary in "der standard" newspaper) will give tips about interesting exhibitions in vienna in an art ad monthly section. she has also organised the presentation of inserts of young artists whose interventions are being shown on the newspaper wall.

they are: christa sommerer (with laurent mignonneau), götz bury and friedrich eckhardt.

the artistic interventions on the newspaper wall 1993:
the artistic interventions are being shown spread throughout the year. the separate slides all deal with a specific theme:
nature, the tool, the person.
christa sommerer (with laurent mignonneau): plants in progress
götz bury: tools
friedrich eckhardt: performance of self.

biographical notes on the artists:

christa sommerer
(born: 1964; studied botany, followed by studies at academy of fine art / masterclass for sculpture / gironcoli); postgraduate study at institute for new media / weibel / städel / frankfurt. (laurent mignonneau is assistant to peter weibel at the intitute for new media in frankfurt.)

friedrich eckhardt
(born: 1960; studied at academy of applied art / oberhuber / caramelle).

götz bury
(born: 1960; studied at academy of applied art / masterclass for sculpture / bertoni; assistant to franz west)

judith fischer (born: 1967; studied journalism/philosophy at university of vienna and academy of applied art; freelance art-critic and curator)

the concepts

nature is artificial and computer-simulated in the works of christa sommerer and laurent mignonneau. software developed by the artists creates virtual pictures of vegetation whose changes correspond to the current season. the passage of the natural seasons is reflected. the artificial micro-environments are oriented towards programmed real growth processes (plants in progress).

the tool is seen by götz bury as a mere stage prop, a children's toy, an ornament or something made of blown glass. despite a deceptive visual likeness the collected tools have lost all virile connotations. the humorous deflation of the functional status drives all seriousness out of the objects.

the person is present in the photographic works of friedrich eckhardt as a result of performances of his own self. eckhardt is his own doppelgänger, his quintuplet. in his collages identity appears as broken, undecided, inter-possible pictures and roles. concise and committed to almost mystical thoughts of self-creation, the photographs also have comical aspects.